Opportunities
for Students
Harvard Radcliffe Institute is one of the world’s leading centers for interdisciplinary exploration. We bring students, scholars, artists, and practitioners together to pursue curiosity-driven research, expand human understanding, and grapple with questions that demand insight from across disciplines.
The Institute is unique among Harvard schools: Although we do not award degrees, we offer unparalleled opportunities for undergraduates and graduate students. Harvard Radcliffe Institute provides learning and research experiences that are difficult to find in a traditional classroom setting. Radcliffe students work directly with our fellows and faculty, providing unique opportunities for mentorship, and they work across departmental boundaries, connecting with peers across the University. Harvard Radcliffe Institute enriches the Harvard student experience by fostering interdisciplinary, engaged scholarship focused on the most pressing issues of our time.
Student Spotlight: Justis Gordon ’24
“There’s no other space on Harvard’s campus that is the same as the Emerging Leaders Program,” says Justis Gordon, a third year mentor. “There’s so much care. There’s so much passion within the community. And it’s so inspiring and enlightening.”
Join the Emerging Leaders Program
The Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) is a youth leadership development program partnering local high school sophomores with current Harvard undergraduates in a mentoring relationship. Together, mentees and mentors challenge limited conceptions of who can be a leader as they build critical skills to drive positive social change. We are no longer accepting applications for the 2023–2024 academic year.
More on the Emerging Leaders ProgramFund Your Research or Project
The Radcliffe Engaged Student Grant Program provides $1,500 stipends per project to support the research, creative, and service work of Harvard undergraduate and graduate students on topics related to the Radcliffe Engaged focus areas. We are no longer accepting applications for the 2023–2024 academic year.
More on the Radcliffe Engaged Student Grant ProgramCarol K. Pforzheimer Student Fellowships provide funding to Harvard undergraduates to do research in the Schlesinger Library’s collections. Harvard Radcliffe Institute’s Schlesinger Library is committed to supporting students to pursue their own research. We are no longer accepting applications for the 2023–2024 academic year. The next application cycle will open on October 28, 2024.
More on Carol K. Pforzheimer Student FellowshipsPhD candidates at all Harvard faculties who plan to finish writing their dissertation in the next academic year are invited to apply. Graduate student fellows participate in the Radcliffe Institute Fellowship Program by attending all weekly fellows’ talks and lunches and presenting their own work to fellows. The application for 2024–2025 is now closed. The 2025–2026 application will open on November 4, 2024.
More on Graduate Student FellowshipsThe Radcliffe Institute Public Art Competition (RIPAC) is opened to all undergraduate and graduate students currently enrolled in a Harvard degree program. The student or design teams who submit the winning design proposal will receive an $8,000 honorarium and up to $10,000 in funding for the fabrication and installation of the work. We welcome proposals that connect the arts with the Institute’s focus areas in climate change; law, education, and justice; and legacies of slavery. Proposals that reflect Radcliffe’s unique history and institutional legacy, that center on women, gender, and society, or that draw on the Schlesinger Library’s rich collections, are also of strong interest to the review committee. We are no longer accepting applications for the 2022–2023 academic year.
More on RIPACConduct Research with Faculty and Fellows
The Radcliffe Research Partnership (RRP) program matches Harvard College students with Radcliffe fellows in a research and mentorship program. Fellows act as mentors, while students provide research assistance, acquire valuable research skills, and participate in the Institute’s rich intellectual life. We are no longer accepting applications for the 2023–2024 academic year. We expect to begin posting projects for the 2024–2025 academic year in June 2024.
More on Radcliffe Research PartnershipsThe Multidisciplinary Student Research Collaborators (MSRC) program allows Harvard undergraduate and graduate students to work as researchers in support of Radcliffe’s private programs. MSRC students aid in the preparation of content in the lead-up to the private programs and/or contribute to the post-program publication and production of program projects and deliverables in whatever specific form(s) that entails. Applications for the 2023–2024 academic year are now open and are accepted on a rolling basis.
More on MSRCExplore Internships & Working Groups
Harvard Radcliffe Institute’s Law, Education, and Justice (LEJ) working groups center dialogue and give students the opportunity to engage deeply and build community around important topics within LEJ. We are no longer accepting applications for the 2022–2023 academic year.
More on Law, Education, and Justice Working GroupsThe Radcliffe Community-Based Student Internship (CBSI) program matches Harvard undergraduate and graduate students with community organizations, based largely in the greater Boston area, for paid spring term internships. The program aims to foster community engagement by providing experiential learning opportunities to students that have real-world impact, while building new, meaningful relationships among community-based organizations, Harvard students, and the Institute. We are not currently accepting applications. Please check back in October 2024.
More on Community-Based Student InternshipsGain Leadership Experience and Training
Student Advisory Board (SAB) members shape student-related programs and experiences and represent the Institute at their respective schools and departments. Through interdisciplinary and engaged work, SAB members collaborate with students across Harvard schools, departments, and classes to shape and share Radcliffe resources and opportunities with other Harvard students. The SAB is open to Harvard undergraduate and graduate students. We are no longer accepting applications for the 2022–2023 academic year.
More on the Student Advisory BoardFind Student Employment at Radcliffe
Harvard Radcliffe Institute’s work spans all disciplines and professions. The Institute provides invaluable support to scholars and students pursuing pathbreaking research and creative projects, including Radcliffe fellows, participants in seminars and workshops, and those inspired by the Schlesinger Library’s rich collections. Harvard Radcliffe Institute also offers a wide range of events and exhibitions, which are free and open to the public. These programs reflect our commitment to expanding access to the University and to supporting the robust exchange of ideas.
More on Employment at RadcliffeNews & Ideas
Follow Us
On Radcliffe Day 2024—Friday, May 24—Harvard Radcliffe Institute will award the Radcliffe Medal to Sonia Sotomayor, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Before Dean Tomiko Brown-Nagin RI ’17 honors Sotomayor with the Radcliffe Medal, our program will explore how—even when political discord, cultural differences, and polarized debates divide us—we can work together toward a future that advances equal rights for all. Speakers will include Mary Bonauto, Jerome Foster II, Martha Minow EdM ’76, RI ’18, Rita Moreno, Melissa Murray, and Nina Perales. Visit our Linktree for full event details and speaker information.
Today, in honor of #PiDay, we bring you an episode of BornCurious featuring the mathematician Laura DeMarco. She and our cohosts reconsider not only what math is but also what it can do—and who can do it. To find the podcast episode, visit our Linktree. Photo by @photorinaldo
Is losing an hour of sleep when we spring ahead for daylight saving time really that big a deal? On this week's episode of our podcast, BornCurious, we talk to Elizabeth B. Klerman, an expert on sleep and circadian rhythms, about the effects of this time adjustVisit our Linktree to listen!